Third-rail insulator.



L. M. RANDOLPH. THIRD RAIL INSULATOB. APPLIOATION FILED HAY 2, 1907.

Patented Dec. 29, 1908.

, Illu i insulator support.

ETTES .PATENT OFFIL'OE;

LEONARD M. RANDOLPH, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSGNORITO ESSEX COMPANY, `OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY. l

antan-sluit insmeren.

no. eoaise.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec.` 29, 190,3.

Applieatin lled lilay 2 131W.' Eeral No. 373,8Q9.

of EssexV and State of New Jersey, have invented 'certain new and useful Improvements `in Third-Rail Insulators, oi which the Tfollowing is a specification, reference being vhad to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

The object oi this invention is to lincrease :the insulating qualities of third-rail insulators, particularly of the type which are 'adapted to support the rail from above, with aview toward reducing to a minimum the leakage from the rail through the insulator lto' its support.

The improvements have particular vreteience to insulators manufactured from an insulating compound described and claimed in Letters `f'atent of the United States No. 749,224, and dated January 12, 1904, although they are byno means limited to insulators maiiulactured from this compound.

, The in'vention'will be more fully described hereinafter'in reference to the accompanying drawings in which,

Figure l is a view partly in sideelevation and partly in section of one embodiment of the improved insulator together With its sup port, showing the third-rail embraced thereby. Fig'. 2 is a view in elevation ol the member of the insulator which is adjacent to the tion of. the other member of the insulator.

It will be seen that the insulator is com-1 posed of two parts a and b which embrace the third-rail c. These parts are each provided with a flange d which iits under the. top ilange e oi the rail, the latter being T-shape and provided with va Contact i'langef along the bottom. ln this way, as will be seen, 'the rail is supported by being suspended l:trom the insulator which is itself supported 'through a 'bracket or some other vsuitable means g. For securing the insulator to Ithis bracket, the adjacent part a isengaged by a portion t' of the bracket and is held against said bracket by a hook bolt k which is bent down 'and partly around the rail and serves to hold the other member l) of the insulator against the rail and against the member a.

ln accordance'with-one feature of the pres. ent im rovements, lone of the members or parte or the insulator, as the part a, extends VRAN- noLPn, a citizen of the United States, and a Fig. 3 is a view inelevae' cover u the oint where the two parts meet 'above t ie rail. For this purpose, thepart a is 'formed with an extension Z which covers' preferably the entire member b and which' preferably drilled or otherwise formed with a hole to permit the hook bolt l: Vte pass through the same and-be secured to thesupport g. ln this way, it will be impossibleiior water to Work down through the joint and on i to the rail and thus provide a path for the above or overlaps the -other part, soi-ias tel leakage of current;l and besides, the hook bolt is covered, insulated and 'kept dry. By passing through and being covered up by the part a', the halt of the hook bolt nearest .the support is insulated by vbeing rotected 4against moisture and contact wit foreign parte. Moreover, the curved end of the look bolt is, in the present embodiment, embedded in the part b so as'to further insulate and protect the same 'from moisture, as Well as to strengthen the part'b which thus may be said to be provided with a projection through which it is secured to the sup ort g. Furthermore, the end of the hook bo t em.- bedded in the part b is bent in toward vthe rail and extends substantially in .to the flange of the rail, and preferably underneath the su' porting flange of the rail at least t0 a slig t extent,'where'by a portion of the insulator upon which the supporting flange rests may loe-greatly'strengthened and revented from being broken od by the weig t or vibration of the rail. In order further to protect the hallc of the hook bolt nearest the sup ort, the insulationupon the other half of t e bolt, that is the insulation b, may be continued as a sleeve upon the hook so as to extend substantially to the support.

The part a, besides being -formed to permit the insertion of `the portion i of the support g, is also formed with a recess m upon its rear face to receive the u er part of t e support. This recess is prefera lly lined with some substance such as galvanized iron h in order vto distnbute the strain which 'the support -imthe third rail causedthereby, constant pulsations are developed in the insulator which with uw 'sans imposed by alstuppoa g *no served.

cent to the insulator, if the same are very effective in destroying the insulator unless some means is provided to distribute the strains throughout the same.

On either side of' the recess m are grooves n, which are formed in the art a and extend preferably up and down, t ereby serving to engthen the distance between the rail and the sup ort g along the surface of the insulator. 'l e lengthening of this surface, as will be obvious, reduces the surface leakage. Moreover, and for the same purpose, the part c is provided with a petticoat o exten ing downwardly between the rail and said support. The vpetticoat o must have a substantial thickness, otherwise it will break off and one of the objects of providing the recess m is to permit the part e to be built out toward the support in order to form a thicker petticoat, such building out toward the support obviously necessitating the formation of a recess around the part of the support adjaistance between thc support and the third rail be pre- The petticoat could not well be thickened by building it in toward the thirdrail, for portions of the rail near the end thereof have wider flanges which would interfere with the petticoat if placed nearer the ra1 In order toseal -up the joints between the two parts or members a and l), a suitable insulating paste may be employed as illustrated at p in Fig. 1. This paste may be formed of the gummy residue left in the varnish kettles after. the manufacture of varnish, or from any other substance or substances which remain plastic under ordinary atmospheric conditions.

I claim as my invention: v

1. A two-part third-rail insulator, each part having a flange to sup ort the rail, and

one part overlapping the ot 1er part so as to cover the' joint between the two parts.

2. A two-part third-rail insulator adapted toV embrace and support a T-rail, each part having a flange fittlng underneath the flange upon the rail, land one part overlapping the other part above the rail for the purpose specified.

3. A two-part third-rail insulator adapted .to embrace the rail, one art having an overlapping extension, and t e other part having a projection extending through the first part and upon which the. insulator maybe supported.

4. The combination of a two-part thirdvrail insulator adapted to embrace the rail and means to support the insulator, one part being adjacent to the support and the other part having ahook bolt embedded therein and extending in toward the rail and underneath the supporting flange thereof and which is adapted to be secured to the support.

5. The combination of a two-part thirdrail insulator adapted to embrace the rail land means to su port the insulator, the part adjacent to sai support having a recess in which the support engages, and the other part having a hook bolt one end of which is embedded in said other part and is bent around underneath a ortion of the rail and the other end of whicli is adapted to be secured. to the support.

7. The combination of a two-part thirdrail insulator adapted to embrace and su portV a T-rail, each part having-a flange itting underneath the flange upon the rail, and means to support the insulator .including a hook bolt, one part of the insulator having the end of the hook bolt embedded therein in such a way that-the end of said bolt extends into the supporting flange thereof for the purpose specified 8. The combination of a two-part thirdrail insulator adapted to embrace the rail, and a support for the insulator in contact with one of said parts, which part is provided with grooves on either side of' 'the support for the purpose specified.

, 9. The combination of a two-part thirdrail insulator adapted to embrace the rail, and means to support the insulator, the part adjacent to the support having a recess in which the support engages and vertically extending-grooves on either side of the support for the purpose specified.

10. The combination with a two-part third-rail insulator and a support therefor, of a bolt to bind the two parts around the rail,

one part of the bolt being bent in and eX- v tending into a'position adjacent the flange of the rail, and the other end being secured to the support.

11. The combination with a two-part third-rail insulator anda support therefor, of a bolt to bind the two parts around the rail, one end of said bolt being embedded in one of the parts of the insulator and the other end of said bolt being provided with insulation around the same.

12. The combination with a two-part third-rail insulator and a sup ort therefor, of a petticoat upon the part of t e insulator adjacent to thc support, the said part being recessed so as to admit the adjacent portion of the body of the support in order that the petticoat may be made sufliciently thick.

This specification signed and witnessed this 29th day of April, 1907.

LEONARD M. RANDOLPH.

Signed in the presence of- LUciUs E. VARNEY, AMBnosE L. OSHEA. 

